Side-stepping Big Brother

In our country, do we want to allow a means of communication between people which […] we cannot read?

My answer to that question is no, we must not.

~David Cameron

Since the Conservative Part achieved a majority in the elections, the previously shelved Draft Communications Data Bill (also known as the Snooper’s Charter) is back on the list of things the government wants to push through at the earliest possible opportunity. The original draft bill required internet and other service providers to retain records of all communications for 12 months, including emails, web phone calls and use of social media and it is unlikely that it will have changed much since it was first tabled.

The bill currently has the support of the National Crime Agency, Met Police and City of London Police.

It is not too late to start lobbying our MPs in the hope that they will vote against this bill.

The British people are in danger of ‘sleep-walking into a surveillance society!’

If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear is a saying that I seen being quoted by politicians more and more lately; it is the thought that if you are honest, law-abiding and open then you will have no problems with the government looking into what you are saying and doing. I am a firm believer in privacy and believe that it is a right that no government should be able remove.

I know that it is very easy being tracked if you use an RFID travel card or carry your mobile phone with you, even walking in public through a built-up area the chances of you ending up on CCTV are very good.

It is even easier to track a person online, with cookies being placed on our computers, ISPs tracking where we go, search companies retaining all our searches and now governments wanting access to everything we say and do.

It is fortunate that in this modern, hyper-connected world there are tools available to end-users to allow us a modicum of privacy online. I have included links and some information on three of them below.

The Tor Browser works just like other web browsers, except that it sends your communications through Tor, making it harder for people who are monitoring you to know exactly what you’re doing online, and harder for people monitoring the sites you use to know where you’re connecting from. Keep in mind that only activities you do inside of Tor Browser itself will be anonymized. Having Tor Browser installed on your computer does not make things you do on the same computer using other software (such as your regular web browser) anonymous.

The Amnesic Incognito Live System (Tails) is a Debian-based live CD/USB with the goal of providing complete Internet anonymity for the user. The product ships with several Internet applications, including web browser, IRC client, mail client and instant messenger, all pre-configured with security in mind and with all traffic anonymised. To achieve this, Tails uses the Tor network to make Internet traffic very hard to trace.

When your computer boots up after the USB or CD is inserted, instead of booting with the installed operating system it will start up the Tails temporary OS that will be run off the CD/USB. When shut down all traces of the temporary OS will be removed from the computer and when the CD/USB is removed the standard OS will begin when next the computer is turned on.

The Library Freedom Project is a partnership among librarians, technologists, attorneys, and privacy advocates which aims to make real the promise of intellectual freedom in libraries. By teaching librarians about surveillance threats, privacy rights and responsibilities, and digital tools to stop surveillance, we hope to create a privacy-centric paradigm shift in libraries and the local communities they serve.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF champions user privacy, free expression, and innovation through impact litigation, policy analysis, grassroots activism, and technology development. The EFF works to ensure that rights and freedoms are enhanced and protected as our use of technology grows.